


Freed

by say_im_good



Series: Tamed [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: M/M, Sequel, Thank You!, please read tamed first, tamed sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:47:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26295904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/say_im_good/pseuds/say_im_good
Summary: On a rough condition, Changbin and Jisung are set free. Their new hit, their condition, is heavily dependent on their last, biggest one. Changbin chooses to pursue the hit, to pursue Felix. Jisung just wants to live safely, to avoid hurting Hyunjin like he did before. But nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and with Minho mastering the strings, nothing will go to plan.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Kim Woojin, Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin, Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin
Series: Tamed [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910617
Comments: 77
Kudos: 201





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to the sequel of the Tamed series. Please read 'Tamed' before starting this story <3 Thank you so much!

Hwang Hyunjin: College student studying psychology. After a traumatic kidnapping incident, he's dead set on emotionally healing and continuing on with a safe life. 

Lee Felix: College student studying psychology. Still torn between whether he misses his old life or wants to pursue his new one, he's attempting to stay positive. 

Kim Seungmin: College student studying English. Best friends with Hyunjin and boyfriend of Jeongin. 

Yang Jeongin: College student studying Psychology. Roommate of Felix and boyfriend of Seungmin. 

Han Jisung: Freed from jail, he's determined to make his apology to Hyunjin clear by living a good, peaceful life. 

Seo Changbin: Knowing it's the condition for their freedom, he sets forward on the hit they're assigned. 

Kim Woojin: A police officer, Hyunjin's older brother. 

Bang Chan: A police officer, close with Woojin. 

Lee Minho: A rich man recently released from prison. With a condition held over Changbin and Jisung's head, it seems that he has the reigns.


	2. Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As much as he could say in his head ‘I wish we didn’t say yes,’ they had, and now they were free from one hell and thrown into another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, welcome to the first chapter of this new story, based off of the previous story. I was thinking really hard recently about my plans for this sequel and I realized something after reading some of your comments and rereading/replanning my plans. 
> 
> This sequel will be a little less of a realistic ending. This sequel is mostly for the people who want hyunsung and changlix to be together in the end, as the last ending was more for people who wanted things to end off more realistically. This sequel is definitely not drastically unrealistic, of course, and I’ll try to better it further as I write it more and more, but I realized after two or so hours of planning that a story with this much suffering is really difficult to make into a happy ending… ahaha…. 
> 
> However, I do currently have a full plan so far for this sequel, and hopefully it’ll be as entertaining as I’m hoping it will be. It’ll be another rollercoaster ride unfortunately (or fortunately depending on what you like to read in a story), but this time I’m promising a happy ending for both of those pairings. 
> 
> In conclusion… I’m preparing this story more and more to be as realistic as I can make it be while still following my plans for it. However, some things may seem a little over the top sometimes, and I apologize in advance if I’m unable to avoid that later like I’ll definitely try to. :) 
> 
> Thank you so much for your dedication to the last story, despite how long it was and despite how much of a ride it was. I hope you like this story regardless of this small warning. <3

The rain was loud on the roof of the car, and while Changbin stared dully out the window, Jisung couldn’t tear his eyes away from Minho and his guard in the front seats. Staying true to his word, he’d gotten them out, but it scared Jisung to some extent wondering how he’d done it. He didn’t really understand how the court system worked, but they were past their trials, and he didn’t think bail was an option still when they were declared guilty of all charges. What kind of money, or power play, had Minho thrown down for them to be free right now?

And what was the cost on their end?

Minho refused to tell them what he wanted from them until they agreed to be let out. Jisung thought it was a terrible idea to follow suit, figuring it was probably just safer to stay in jail for decades than to fuck with Minho again. But when he verbalized this, Changbin grumbled that staying in jail wasn’t an option for them if they could help it. Their mentor’s bills needed paying, something that Jisung shamefully forgot about in the chaos of things, and Changbin still wanted to find Felix again. 

Changbin had accepted before Jisung could consider a proper argument, and within a day, Minho was picking them up to leave. 

Jisung didn’t like it. He didn’t know how Changbin truly felt, since they didn’t have time to discuss without Minho listening in, but he himself hated what was happening. Shouldn’t they just stay and atone for what they did to Hyunjin and Felix? But Jisung knew he couldn’t bring that aspect up to Changbin, when Changbin didn’t see any fault in their prior actions, didn’t feel the tearing guilt that Jisung was feeling as they were set free within a few months of being incarcerated. 

Every winding thought led back to the same question. 

What did Minho want from them, that he’d promise them freedom and refuse to give it to them until they accepted something that they didn’t even know yet?

The rain fell heavily. The headlights of the car blared out on the wet asphalt, and the atmosphere in the car had been tense and quiet ever since Minho smiled when they’d gotten in, congratulating their freedom. 

It felt wrong. Jisung knew that there was no way this could be so easy without a terrible consequence. 

“Where are we going?” Changbin asked, his voice nearly startling Jisung into jumping, torn from his thoughts.

Minho turned to look at them as his guard focused on the road. “To your old house,” he said, “Though I guess while we’re still in the car, I should tell you the conditions of what you agreed to.” 

Jisung exhaled heavily. Yes, they had to keep paying for their mentor’s bills, yes, they needed to find Felix again, sure, but Changbin had agreed without even so much as prying for more information. Was he really that desperate to be freed? Jisung could usually read him well, could usually understand. He couldn’t at all this time. 

Minho turned to face forward in his seat, whipping out his phone. Jisung saw over his shoulder the screen go black, a button being pressed in the center. An audio recording. He was recording them. Jisung bumped Changbin’s arm, but the other faintly nodded, already catching on himself. 

“Changbin, Jisung,” Minho started. “I’m giving you a hit.” 

This, of course, was the hit he previously mentioned, though he hadn’t said then who they were going to be pursuing, or what they were to do to that person. Minho hummed, and as if talking about the weather, he continued calmly and casually. “You two happen to know the person that I’m sending you after, and hopefully won’t mind killing him.” 

It was as if time froze for a second. Jisung’s eyes slowly widened, Changbin’s gruff voice growled out, “Minho, you know we don’t kill.” 

“From my witness reports, you, Changbin, killed a man that worked for Taekwoon, and attempted to kill Taekwoon himself,” Minho argued calmly. 

“That was different, that wasn’t a hit, that was because-”

“Ah, to protect your own. I get it,” Minho hummed, picking at his fingernails. “But you don’t even know who I want you to kill yet.” 

Jisung stared down at his shoes, finally having torn his gaze away from Minho, as he could barely wrap his head around what he was hearing. He should’ve known it would be some shitty condition like this. Minho wouldn’t have a reason to ask them to run a hit on someone when he knew so many other people who could just as easily do it. He wanted to see them struggle, to see them break their morals. 

“You two know Kim Woojin.” 

His eyes shot up, and they locked with Minho’s. Jisung’s lips slowly parted to ask the question, but he already knew the answer. Woojin would be their hit. 

“You want us to kill Woojin?” Changbin asked slowly. “Why the fuck would you want that?” 

Minho stared out at the rural street ahead. It seemed as if they were approaching the outskirts of the city, with more cars passing than before, more buildings swishing by as they drove through green lights and paused at stop signs. “It’s a win-win, for me,” Minho started, “and honestly for you two if you thought hard enough about it. Did you really want to spend the rest of your life in jail?” 

“It wasn’t a life sentence,” Jisung mumbled. Minho laughed.

“Sure. You’d get out when you’re, what, fifty something? I’ll rephrase then. Did you really want to spend the majority of your life in jail? What will you do when you’re freed? You’ll be old with no skill sets, no job history, no credit.” Jisung swallowed. Minho wasn’t wrong, though it wasn’t something he’d ever considered. Minho continued, “But I have another option for you, and all you have to do is kill the person that came after you in the first place. Isn’t Woojin a danger to you two if you’re out? He’ll just find another reason to put you back in. Lord forbid you ever want to see Hyunjin again if Woojin’s around. And I heard that Felix has been hanging around that crowd lately as well.”

Changbin’s eyes narrowed, Jisung turned to watch him quietly. There was a hopelessness sinking in his chest. They should’ve just stayed in jail, he wanted to think, but Minho had a point. They wouldn’t have a future to look forward to upon being released legally. They wouldn’t have anything left in the world for them if they waited that long. 

“And how does this benefit you?” Changbin asked. “Because it has to for you to care. I know how you work.”

Minho laughed softly, turning back to them and smiling. “Well, for one, I’m pissed off at three people. Two of them are sitting in my car right now, and the third is Kim Woojin. I lost a lot of contacts, being thrown into jail, I lost a lot of reliable resources. I could care less about Woojin’s life. Honestly it would benefit me to have him gone, given that he has evidence against me that could be used if I ever got caught for anything again somehow. As for you two, it’ll amuse me greatly to see you break your little ‘no killing’ code for a scrap of freedom.” 

Changbin tsked, Jisung slowly zoned out, focusing on the road. So that was what it was. A game for Minho. They’d take a life, and Minho would be pleased.

“What if we don’t do it?” Jisung asked, not realizing that the words would come out until he’d already said them. 

Minho hummed. “Well, I’ve already let you out of jail, I can’t just put you back. But I could kill you, frame you, or,” he paused, turning to Changbin. “I know your omega is living a normal life right now, I doubt he expects to be attacked if I were to hire someone…”

Changbin grit his teeth, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. “If you hurt Felix, I will kill you,” he promised. Minho only smiled. 

“Good, now take that rage and turn it towards Woojin. Isn’t he the main reason why you two are separated? Wasn’t he once the main threat to you, to Felix, to your lifestyle?”

Jisung swallowed, turning to Changbin. He wanted to say no. They could fight Minho off like they did before, they could protect Felix, plan around this. But Changbin had his head bowed in contemplation. 

“I’ll give you the day to think about it, at least,” Minho said. “But remember the consequences of saying no. It’s really not that hard to go through with this, I’ll even give you the resources you need to follow through.” 

Jisung didn’t realize how familiar the street was until they were turning down the long driveway that led to their house. It hurt a little, seeing it again, a sore nostalgia upon seeing the overgrown grass, the boarded up windows, the gloomy atmosphere of it all. 

Minho’s guard brought the car to a park, and Minho turned in his seat one last time, handing Jisung and Changbin their phones, likely acquired from the jail. It was the first time Jisung realized that it didn’t come back to him with his clothes from the day they were caught. It only established further what Minho wanted them to know. He had control of them now. He called the shots. 

They clambered out, and Jisung watched Minho drive off as Changbin went straight to the front door. He pulled the keys out of his pocket, thankfully having them on his person when they were arrested so they’d be given back to him upon being let out. Fidgeting with the lock, he pushed open the door. 

Their furniture was gone. Everything was gone. The house was empty. 

It didn’t surprise him as much as it should have, but it was still difficult to cope with. Jisung made his way in, looked around. They’d worked their asses off from age fourteen to afford their belongings. The couch was years old, gotten off the street on a foggy day, the coffee table had been a newer possession, bought from a thrift shop for around thirty dollars. And now, it was all gone. 

“I’m gonna check upstairs, maybe they didn’t take the-”

“Jisung, you know they took it all,” Changbin muttered. They fell quiet. No food in the fridge, no safe that once stored their money. Jisung’s new concern was how the hell they’d afford to eat if they took too long. Was Minho going to pay them for this? Surely he wouldn’t want them to starve if he wanted Woojin to…

To die. 

They were going to kill someone. There wasn’t another option. As much as he could say in his head ‘I wish we didn’t say yes,’ they had, and now they were free from one hell and thrown into another. 

“How… are we going to do this?” Jisung asked softly. Changbin had his back to the wall between the living room and kitchen, and slowly he sank down to sit on the floor, staring up at the rotting ceiling and sighing. 

“How we always do it,” he replied quietly. “We’ll find a way to catch him. And we’ll… we’ll do it painlessly, if there’s a way. At the very least quickly.”

“Yongguk told us to never kill anyone,” Jisung whispered. It was more to himself than to Changbin, but the other sighed heavily. 

“Yeah, well Yongguk isn’t here. He’s in a hospital bed, and if we don’t make money somehow, his bills will rack up.” 

Jisung nodded quietly. For the first time, he didn’t feel up to arguing. There was a nausea in his throat, a thick discomfort in his chest. Changbin sighed, “Let’s sleep through tonight. In the morning, we’ll talk to Minho again.” 

\----------------------------------------------------------------

“Knock knock.”

“Why do you do that? It’s your office too,” Woojin muttered with a smile, turning over his shoulder, though he already knew who was at the door. Chan made his way into their shared office, falling into his rolling chair and swivelling up to his desk. Woojin had come in early, given that he had very little else to do now that Hyunjin was living at the dorms. 

It was a hard transition, letting Hyunjin go again. He’d almost argued that Hyunjin should live at home and commute, but Chan helped him (kindly) realize that that was a selfish proposition. The college was far enough away that it would be an inconvenience. More than that, Woojin had to learn that Hyunjin could function without him, could be safe without him. 

After the most recent year, Woojin would wake to nightmares about Hyunjin still being gone, wake up to an empty house and panic. It was enough that he’d sent countless texts in the middle of the night to his little brother, who always made an effort to respond by morning that he was okay. 

But things were safe again, whether his restless mind could believe that or not, and Chan and Woojin were back to work. They were currently in the process of writing the report on what they’d seen earlier that day, a domestic abuse case. It was almost certain that the alpha in question was going to go to court, but they needed a solid report for the omega to rely on to testify against her. 

“Hey, Woojin,” Chan said, right as Woojin was done proofreading the document. “You almost done?” 

“Yeah, just wanted to proofread. I’ll send it and then I can take you home.” 

They’d been carpooling to work on some days, on the movie nights they had where Chan would sleep over when it got too late. It was hard for Woojin to sleep through the night sometimes, so when Hyunjin wouldn’t respond right away, likely asleep himself, Chan would often come over to distract Woojin from racing, worried thoughts. 

“Would you want to get dinner instead?” 

Woojin blinked up, looking at Chan a little blankly. “Where? It’s kind of late, everything’ll be closing soon.” 

“There’s a diner near my house that’s twenty-four hours. Since we work the same shift in the morning, you could sleep over afterwards if you wanted to?” Chan asked, scratching the back of his neck bashfully. Woojin slowly smiled, feeling his chest flutter a little. 

“I’d like that.” 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the same back and forth, and Felix initially felt comfortable with that. 

‘How is school going?’

He was making straight A’s so far, though that didn’t mean too terribly much so early into the semester. 

‘Are you making friends?’

He’d told her about Hyunjin, about Jeongin and Seungmin, how they’d been getting close. He also still had Chan who he called sometimes with adult-ish questions he didn’t know the answers to. 

“I know it’s been a few sessions since we’ve talked about Changbin.” 

And that one came out of nowhere, hitting him in the chest. Felix stared at his counselor blankly, feeling his throat tighten. Just hearing his alpha’s name reminded him of what he was missing. He lifted his hand subconsciously to one of the three bite scars on his neck, the one that mattered most to him by far. 

“It has,” he whispered. 

The counselor smiled warmly. “How is he doing? Have you visited recently?” 

Felix nodded, lowering his hand the moment he noticed what he was doing, instead using it to grip onto the water bottle that was previously laying in his lap. It was almost empty already. He’d ask for a new one in a few minutes, if this conversation kept going the way he thought it might. 

“I visited yesterday,” Felix said quietly. “He’s okay, he’s bored, which is fair.” 

The counselor nodded understandingly, staring down at her notes. 

“I know this is a difficult question to answer, so if you can’t answer it yet, please let me know.” She then looked back up to Felix tilting her head softly. “But do you think that maybe you’ll visit less often in the future?” 

His hands tightened slightly around the water bottle, making the plastic crackle. “I don’t really think so, but… I mean… I guess it depends on the future,” he mumbled.

He’d been spending more time with his friends lately, though ‘friends’ was a little bit of an overstatement. His counselor called them his friends, Chan called them his friends. He wasn’t sure. Seungmin and Jeongin were kind enough, but Felix couldn’t bring himself to trust people that he barely knew, that he couldn’t read or understand easily. And Hyunjin… they’d just gone through too much. It was hard to see Hyunjin laughing with the others and not remember him sobbing in the bedroom. It was hard to see Hyunjin on his crutches and not remember wrapping and cleaning the wound Jisung had caused when it was fresh. 

But regardless, he’d spent more time with them. They studied together, they got ice cream together pretty often. Jeongin was his roommate, so he saw him even more than the others. But would he put hanging out with them above visiting Changbin on visiting days? Would he ever do that, even in the far future?

He had to move on eventually. Changbin wasn’t getting out for years upon years. He couldn’t just… wait for him… could he? 

“You’re lost in thought, what are you thinking about?” The counselor asked. 

“Will I wait for Changbin until he gets out?” Felix asked softly. He knew she didn’t know the answer, but he almost wished something would dawn in his mind, an answer that made perfect sense, if he just asked aloud. It didn’t work. 

“Well, I guess that’s for the future to decide. You may find another alpha that you like a lot. You may want to focus on your studies more than visitations, or spend more time with your friends. But I think it’s important to recognize that you don’t absolutely have to visit Changbin every weekend. Going every weekend for thirty something years is dedication of course, but it’s not obligatory. I’m sure Changbin would understand if you missed some weekends, or even stopped coming after a few years.” 

The thought of it hurt. Finding another alpha? Stopping visiting entirely? How could he do that? He was claimed to Changbin. Sure, he was also claimed to two other alphas somewhere in the world, but Changbin actually took care of him, actually loved him. He couldn’t just give up on that. 

“Ah, looks like we’re a little over on time. Will I be seeing you next week?” The counselor asked. 

Felix nodded, finished off his water, threw the empty bottle away. “Thank you,” he whispered, though honestly he felt more conflicted now than he did before. Maybe that was a part of healing. He headed back to the dorms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I want to clarify, I tried to do my research but I literally cannot comprehend jail times or court systems and I'm so sorry if things like Jisung and Changbin's length of time set in jail or the court system stuff are inaccurate. T~T <3


	3. Split

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It was still sprinkling when Jisung marched out, the air so humid it was difficult to breathe. Jisung attributed his own lack of breath to that and not to the fact that he was two seconds from crying."

Small fractures of light filtered in, and the alarm on Jisung’s phone dinged over and over until Jisung was groaning and grabbing the device to turn it off. Never did he expect to be sleeping on the barren floors of the house that was fully furnished months ago, but his back was sore and he woke up in an altogether grumpy mood. 

Changbin sat up, rubbed his eyes, sighed heftily. It was still rather dark inside with the windows boarded up, and Jisung had the mind to just go back to sleep, but Changbin was standing now, stretching, and he knew he’d get scolded if he tried. They had a decision to make, and Jisung realized that sleeping on it did end up helping him make his choice. 

They couldn’t do it, he was entirely certain. Capability wise, they could. It would be hard, what with Woojin having a gun and training and being on a force. But he doubted Minho would protect them after they killed Woojin. They’d just go straight to jail again, this time for murder, this time likely for life. It was another set-up, another game for Minho. They couldn’t fall into that trap. 

“I’ll call Minho,” Changbin said, and Jisung almost assumed that they were in the same mindset until Changbin sighed, “Might as well get this stupid hit over with.” 

“Wait,” Jisung said uneasily. “Let’s think this through a little.”

“Don’t tell me you’re against it,” Changbin said exasperated, furrowing his brow, putting a hand on his hip. “You know the risks of not doing what he wants us to. He could hurt us, he could hurt Felix.”

“If we kill Woojin we are almost assuredly going back to jail. Didn’t you literally say ‘we can’t go back there’?” 

“I doubt we’ll get caught again, the only reason we got caught in the first place was because you weren’t careful.” 

Jisung narrowed his eyes. Despite the truth of it, it still pissed him off when Changbin blamed him for everything, even months later. They’d both participated in kidnapping Hyunjin; Whether Jisung was the one who got them found out or not, they both committed the crime. 

“I wasn’t careful? You’re not being careful now! The past is the past, whatever, but if we do something stupid this time our lives are literally over,” Jisung argued, not realizing his voice was raising in volume, “Then who’s gonna pay Yongguk’s bill? Then who’s gonna find Felix? We can fight Minho, we can run from him. We can’t fight the entire police force when they find an officer murdered.” 

“Then what would you rather do, Jisung?!” Changbin growled, dropping his hands to his side and clenching them into fists. “What?! Go hide for the rest of your life? This is our chance to go back to normal, to go back to-”

“We will never go back to normal after killing someone in cold blood and you know that,” Jisung spat. The room fell silent but the tension was loud enough on its own. They stood and stared at each other, and Jisung realized they had never fought like this about anything, that one of them usually had reason to settle the argument down, to talk it out. There was too much on the line this time to drop one side or the other.

“Our options,” Changbin started, lowering his voice but no less irritation in his tone, “are either go with what Minho says, kill one guy who would be a threat to us anyway, and be able to go back to normal, or, to be hunted by Minho for hell knows how long, likely die, and risk Felix’s life, too.” 

“Changbin, we can protect Felix,” Jisung accentuated. “But do you think that Felix would ever forgive you if he knew you killed Woojin intentionally? We need more information, we need to find Felix and see if he’s really around Hyunjin, because if he is friends with Hyunjin, then we definitely shouldn’t kill Hyunjin’s brother. Do you see where I’m getting at?” 

“Honestly, no I don’t,” Changbin sighed, exhausted with the argument already. He flipped open his phone, began typing in a number. 

And Jisung made up his mind. “If you call Minho, I’m not helping you.”

Changbin froze. “What? Jisung, you-”

He turned to face the younger alpha, but Jisung’s face was stone cold, his determination locked into place. “I’m not going to help you kill someone and ruin Hyunjin’s life. We’re either running from Minho or running from the police, so why does it fucking matter which we choose? Let’s keep with our morals, let’s do the right thing. Come on, Changbin-”

“If you’re not going to help then get out.” 

The words felt like they echoed, and Jisung felt his heart drop in his chest. Changbin had never said anything along those lines to him before. They’d always been a team, a family. They’d never split apart since their teens, and now… 

“Changbin-”

“I said what I fucking said, Jisung. If you won’t work with me then I don’t want you getting in the way.” 

It hurt, it hurt like fucking hell. Jisung felt hot tears building in his eyes, the heartbreak almost instantly replaced with anger, since it was the only emotion he could rightfully feel. 

“Fine,” he grumbled, grabbing his jacket off the ground and marching to the door. “Call me when you get fucking arrested again.” 

“Call me when Minho has you strung up like a pig,” Changbin spat back. 

It was still sprinkling when Jisung marched out, the air so humid it was difficult to breathe. Jisung attributed his own lack of breath to that and not to the fact that he was two seconds from crying, marching out on his own. Where would he go? What was he going to do, if not run a hit? Maybe he could run his own hits. No, staying anywhere near the underground after defying Minho was a death sentence. He needed to disappear, to lie low. 

First, he needed to get out of this fucking rain. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was cold and raining, and Felix’s hood kept blowing down everytime he raised it back over his head, causing him to have to hold it still. The coat Chan bought for him didn’t help much in keeping him dry, but it was something at least. He was almost to the jail anyway; Maybe they’d let him wait out the storm in the waiting area. The bus had brought him here, and he had about an hour until the bus would run by the nearby stop again, so he was good on time. 

After what the counselor had said, he was almost certain that he wouldn’t stop visiting Changbin, no matter how many years went by. He couldn’t let go and he knew it, so he just needed to accept it. Changbin would always be his alpha, his soulmate, no matter the inconvenience or struggle of that being the case. 

He made it into the doors of the main entryway, pulling down his hood and sighing as the breath re-entered his lungs. The older alpha behind the desk looked bored and unwelcoming, but Felix was far used to that, walking up and smiling faintly. “I’m here to visit Seo Changbin.” 

“Ah, right, it’s you,” the alpha said dully, standing up and stretching. “I’ll go check and see if he’s ready.” 

Felix nodded and made his way to the bench against the wall, placing his backpack down and zipping it open, scanning the contents. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like any of the rain had soaked through the fabric enough to damage the papers inside. Felix sighed with relief, zipping his bag back up and staring up at the ceiling until the alpha came back. 

Felix stood, prepared to be taken back, but the alpha’s disconcerted face stopped him. “Is… something wrong?” Felix asked uneasily. 

“Seems like he was let out yesterday,” the guard said, shrugging. “That happens sometimes, what with those rich folk. Stupid law doesn’t mean a thing to them.” 

Felix’s chest tightened. Changbin wasn’t rich. There was no way that Changbin could’ve paid his way out, and he wouldn’t have left Jisung behind either. Jisung…?

“What about Han Jisung? Is Han Jisung still in there?” Felix asked in a rush, grabbing his bag, lugging it over his shoulder and hurrying up to the desk. The guard sighed, grabbing his glasses and flipping through some sort of binder on his desk before grumbling, “Doesn’t look like it. He also got let out yesterday. It’s like I said, this fucking world has no regard for the law.” 

Felix felt his chest turn with both relief and anxiety. They were freed already, it was such good news, and yet… How? How could they have been set free without some sort of outside help? They didn’t know anyone, anyone besides Felix, to his knowledge at least. Who would have money and motive to set them free?

Minho came to mind. Felix immediately ushered that thought away. That would be the worst case scenario. He needed to find out for sure before overthinking the bad things. “Thank you,” he said to the secretary before hurrying out the door, forgetting to pull his hood up until he was halfway down the block, mind too cluttered with wondering where they were, how they’d gotten out, and who saved them. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Jisung made it into a grocery store, soaking wet despite having held his jacket above his head the entire walk to town. It was a long walk, one that he thankfully had memorized due to taking it to Hyunjin’s house every few days before. By the time he entered through the sliding doors, he was panting, shivering, and only slightly less upset. But he didn’t have time to cry over it. 

He made his way to the billboard. This was the store they came to get their groceries at on a monthly basis, so he knew the layout pretty well. The large billboard had advertisements, business cards, but that wasn’t what he was looking for. There were a few job listings posted up, and Jisung pulled out his phone, wiping the wet screen off on the driest part of his shirt that he could find, and began typing them all down. Name, phone number, job description, qualifications. Most of them were starting jobs at restaurants, mowing lawns, things that he could likely figure out pretty fast. He decided to call nearly all of them, and made his way to a bench to sit down while doing so, his feet aching after practically sprinting through the rain the entire way. 

Three places answered the phone immediately, and the remaining five sent him to voicemail. He explained his circumstances honestly; In a city like this, it was easy and normal to do background checks on future employees, and it was better for him to explain that he was fresh out of jail than for them to find out later on their own. The three that answered the phone were pretty much instant failures. They all said that they didn’t really have a place for him, which was the professional way to say they didn’t hire criminals. 

And so he waited on the bench. People passing by stared him down like he was crazy, what with his slowly drying clothes and hair, the fact that he’d been sitting on that same bench for hours. He didn’t have money to do any shopping, it wasn’t like he had credit to get a credit card or anything to put on a debit card. Some lady even offered him ten dollars, asking if he’d left his card at home or something, and he gratefully accepted it and bought himself a bag of chips to tide over his hunger, saving the change in his pocket. 

He got a call back from a manager at the grocery store he was sitting in, who explained that they were drastically understaffed for their stocking positions and needed to hire someone who was willing to work hard. Jisung promised him that he would do his best, and within an hour, after combing his hair in the bathroom and washing his face with dispenser soap, he was sitting in the back room for an interview. 

He came out with a job, a job that he would start the very next day. When it came to sleeping, he considered his options. He could try to take out a loan for a car, but he knew it wouldn’t work. He could steal a car. He contemplated it for a while. It was risky, but he knew what he was doing. He’d stolen cars when he was sixteen with hardly any effort, and he doubted he’d get caught doing it again. 

Making his way out into the parking lot, he scoped out the area. 

By night time, he was driving an old truck into a small, unowned field, ripping off the license plates and registration, and calling it his temporary home. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were seated in the corner of the diner, farther from the other patrons. Maybe it was their uniforms that made some people nervous, but they were far used to it by then. Chan slipped into the booth closer to the wall and Woojin sat down across from him, both flipping open their menus and staring down at them. 

The omega waitress came by and took their orders, and it left them with plenty of time to talk. 

“How is Felix doing?” Woojin asked with a soft smile. He’d heard from Chan and Hyunjin both that Felix was doing well, but it just made him happy to keep hearing that sort of news. Felix was a hostage just like Hyunjin had been, and it reassured Woojin to hear that he was doing well. 

“He’s fine, he’s doing well in school and going to his counseling sessions every week,” Chan said, taking a sip of his water. “He calls me sometimes for homework help, and honestly I can’t even comprehend some of the stuff they have these kids doing.”

Woojin laughed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Honestly, when Hyunjin asks me for help with his assignments I end up doing most of the research that he could’ve done just trying to understand it all. College has really amped up, huh? It’s only been a few years since we went, I don’t remember it being that hard.” 

“Well, we also likely forgot a lot of stuff,” Chan said with a shrug. 

“That’s true,” Woojin sighed. “Jeongin, Hyunjin, and Felix are all focusing on psychology. I wonder what they plan to do with that sort of thing.” 

“I know Jeongin wants to be a counselor,” Chan smiled. “As for Hyunjin and Felix…” the smile faded just slightly, and Woojin figured that someone who didn’t know Chan as well wouldn’t have noticed. “I think they just want to understand what happened to them.” 

Woojin’s own smile slowly faded. “Yeah, that makes sense,” he said softly. “Hyunjin wanted to be an officer before, but thinking about it, I don’t… know if he could handle that sort of thing anymore. I know that sounds mean, but-”

“I know what you mean,” Chan assured him. “It’s hard work, it’s emotionally, mentally, and physically taxing. After what he went through, it would make sense that he wouldn’t want to face that sort of scenario again.” 

The waitress brought them their food, and for a few minutes they focused on eating.

“I think they all have a lot of potential, those four. Even Seungmin, if he’d just do his damn homework,” Chan sighed. Woojin laughed, putting his fork down and focusing on Chan. 

“They’re all smart kids. They’re gonna go places, I’m sure of it,” Woojin smiled. Chan stared at him for a second, and Woojin furrowed his brow. “What are you staring at me for?” 

“You have a crumb on your cheek, hold on-” Chan then reached across the table, swiping his thumb along the corner of Woojin’s lips, hesitating, then pulling away. It made Woojin’s chest stir in a fond, strange way as Chan returned to sitting normally. 

“Got it?” Woojin asked with a knowing smile. Chan flushed.

“Yeah, got it,” he laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello <3 Thank you for reading this story! I hope this chapter was alright :) I'm sick right now so I'm able to update a little more frequently, since I'm staying home and stuff. I hope you like it!


	4. Overnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was no turning back after this, and he realized what Minho meant when he said this was entirely different from a usual hit.
> 
> WARNING MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH IN THIS CHAPTER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so initially I posted a long author's note about the things happening within our fandom, but I actually deleted it because I figured I could go into some things here without it being so long or taking up a chapter.
> 
> I don't support Woojin. I'm not comfortable writing about him anymore, I'm not comfortable even thinking about him anymore. I don't want to argue about this, so please don't fight in the comments.
> 
> However, I want to make it clear that what happens in this chapter was going to happen anyway. I'm not changing the story barely at all by making this chapter how it is. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'll continue with my author notes at the end of it.

The rain caused the cold to float in, and Changbin shivered a little as he waited in the stale grey office. The walls were plain, the table was steel, it was the cold, clean environment he would expect from Minho. He was alone, but he was certain that there were guards stationed outside the door to prevent him from leaving. It didn’t matter; he didn’t plan on running like Jisung had. 

Minho had asked where Jisung was, and Changbin was almost angry enough to tell him the truth. But he still loved Jisung as a brother, as dumb as he was, and so he said that Jisung had fallen ill walking in the rain, was at home passed out. Minho had scoffed at that, rolling his eyes, but he muttered that he figured Changbin could take the gear he was giving them on his own. 

Minho was providing him with everything he needed, and it felt wrong, but Changbin was at the very least grateful to have a gun strapped to his hip again, a small knife in the slit of his boot. He was given enough bullets to do the job, two knives, and a handgun. It was enough by far. Woojin wouldn’t be expecting him to come bursting in, but the man would probably still be prepared for a fight within a few seconds of a commotion starting. Changbin would have to be sneaky, and he was honestly more comfortable anyway with the idea of killing someone in their sleep where they wouldn’t feel the pain.

The door opened, and Minho walked in with one of his guards, looped the table and took a seat in the chair across from Changbin’s. He slipped a small piece of paper across the table, the paper smaller than Changbin’s palm with information scribbled down in a small font. “This is the address of his house, his work schedule for the week, and the time he usually goes to sleep,” Minho said dully. 

Changbin cocked an eyebrow. “You know all of this for certain?”

“As certain as my tipper could make me, though I don’t have much faith in this one. He’s not my usual go-to,” Minho shrugged. Changbin didn’t feel comfortable with that, with the concept that he may be going to assassinate someone on unsteady information, but he stayed quiet. 

“What about the payment?” Changbin asked bluntly. Minho slowly smiled. 

“You want payment? More than me getting you out of jail?” he asked, voice slow and filled with amusement.

Changbin grumbled, “They took all of our money when they raided our house. We don’t have anything, not a single dime. We’ll starve before we’re able to run your hit.” 

Minho sighed, long and drawn, as if it was a major inconvenience despite the wealth that he reputably had. “Fine, fine. I’ll give you a thousand dollars. A cozy thousand to feed you and get you a blanket or something. All for my lovely hitmen.” 

Changbin nearly rolled his eyes, but he wouldn’t show ungratefulness to Minho. “Thank you,” he mumbled instead, the words difficult to produce given who he was saying them to. Minho grinned. 

“You’re welcome. On another note, let me know before you run the hit so that I can be prepared for it to fall through. I don’t necessarily have much faith in you, given that you haven’t done this kind of work before.” 

“It’s not that different,” Changbin grumbled. “I’m just putting the bullet in his head instead of his leg or something.”

Minho stared at him, eyes filled with knowing of something that Changbin couldn’t understand. It made him uncomfortable, as if Minho could read his soul in the moment. “It’s different. You’ll see.” 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, Felix!” 

It was his last class of the day and he was leaving quickly. He wanted to get back to his dorm, shower, change clothes, then start figuring out where Changbin could’ve gone. A drop of annoyance trickled down his spine as Seungmin’s voice called out from the classroom. Slowly he turned around, furrowing his brow as if asking ‘what?’ 

Seungmin had already hurried up to him, and Hyunjin was making his way in their direction, a little slower due to the crutches he had to rely on. Seungmin’s smile was bright and cheery. It was the opposite of the rawness Felix felt on the inside, the craving for his alpha, the anxiety on where Changbin had gone. 

“Are you coming to the game tonight?” the younger alpha asked. 

Felix blinked. “The what?” 

Hyunjin made his way up, tilting his head to Seungmin as if he wasn’t sure what Seungmin was so enthusiastic about. Seungmin sighed, slowly shaking his head. “Come on guys, the first sports match of the year and you don’t even know about it?” 

“Do you even know what sport they’re playing?” Hyunjin asked accusingly. Seungmin stuck his tongue out at him before turning back to Felix. 

“Regardless of that,” Seungmin smiled. “You should come! It’s tonight at seven-thirty, I can buy your ticket if you want. My mom didn’t want me going alone so…” he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Ah, I’m sorry,” Felix smiled weakly, feeling genuinely guilty for letting Seungmin down. He couldn’t waste time though. Changbin could be looking for him, Changbin could need help somewhere. If he spent tonight having fun with friends and wasn’t able to find Changbin later, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. “I’m busy tonight, but thank you for inviting me. Maybe Jeongin’ll go?” 

“Jeongin said he hates sports,” Seungmin whined, before turning to Hyunjin. “Guess that means you’re going after all.”

“Why do I have to go? I hate sports too!” Hyunjin sighed, “I feel like your boyfriend should be more obligated to go with you than me-”

“Oh, shut up. I literally took a bullet for you and you haven’t paid me back for it yet. Just come to the game, you can be on your phone the whole time!” Seungmin argued.

Felix took the opportunity of leaving while they were still bickering, finding his mind filling once again with where Changbin could be. There was only one place he could think of. Unless he’d fled the city for some reason, which Felix didn’t see him doing without finding him first, he was likely crashing at their old house. The problem was, he didn’t know the address. They never told him what it was, and he didn’t know how to get there. He didn’t want to bring it up to Hyunjin, one because it may trigger Hyunjin to think about, but two because Hyunjin probably had no idea either. The only ones who would know for sure were…

The officers. Chan and Woojin. Felix wasn’t that connected to Woojin, but maybe he could ask Chan…

But Chan wouldn’t give him the address. And if he asked Chan what it was, he’d almost certainly say that it wasn’t safe for Felix to go, or be suspicious of why Felix was asking in the first place. At the very least, he would require that he go with Felix, and if Changbin was there, out of jail…

Felix shuddered at the thought. He couldn’t ask Chan either. 

Feeling like he’d hit a dead end, Felix went to his dorm room, turned off the light, and laid down on his bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Jeongin’s voice echoed from the bed on the other side of the small room. 

“Didn’t want to go to the game either?” 

He had to catch his breath. “Jeongin, you just scared me so bad.”

Jeongin sat up, and Felix noted his shadow. Had he turned the lights off on him, walking into the room without even noticing that someone was already in there? Was he that lost in thought? He needed to get it together. 

“I’m sorry,” Jeongin said, a smile in his voice, though Felix couldn’t see it through the darkness. “I was just doing my homework and the lights turned off. I thought it was a power outage or something until I saw you walking in here like a zombie.” He then paused, and Felix noted motion, as if he were tilting his head. “Are you alright?” 

Felix glanced down. He couldn’t talk to anyone about it. Jeongin and Seungmin didn’t know of his situation to his knowledge, only Hyunjin. It would seem crazy to talk about. 

But his heart was aching with need to see his alpha again. Maybe he needed to take his supplements again to suppress the urge to be with him, but for now, talking about Changbin would do. 

“I got separated from someone important to me a few months ago, I’m trying to find them now.”

“Your alpha?” Jeongin asked, and Felix blinked, shooting up to stare at Jeongin, who clicked on his lamp on his bedside table so they could at least see each other. 

“How did you know?” Felix asked uneasily. Had Hyunjin told them about what was going on? He felt a little betrayed if that was the case. It wasn’t Hyunjin’s story to tell. 

But Jeongin just shrugged. “I just assumed. You have supplements for omegas who are separated from their alphas, and you have a pretty fresh bite on your neck, maybe only a few months old. I was wondering but thought it might be insensitive to ask. Sorry if I brought up something bad-”

“No,” Felix hurried to say, relieved that Jeongin didn’t seem to know about Changbin other than basic observation. “I just…” He sighed. He couldn’t tell Jeongin everything, no matter how much he wanted to open up. He could barely even tell his counselor or Chan everything, and they were people that he was supposed to be able to go to. 

“I’m looking for him, but I have no idea where he might’ve gone,” Felix said weakly, leaning back against his headboard and staring down at his socked feet. 

Jeongin hummed sympathetically. “It sounds really stressful. I’m not mated yet, but I can’t imagine not knowing where Seungmin went for months.” He paused, as if contemplating, before continuing. “Honestly, I used to have the biggest crush on Hyunjin, and when he disappeared, I was really scared. I can’t imagine being mated to someone and just… losing them.”

Felix bowed his head further. He wanted to cry.

“Ah, sorry, I probably made you feel a hundred times worse,” Jeongin quickly worried aloud, and Felix shook his head slowly. 

“No, thank you for talking with me. I guess… I just need to focus on school, and look for clues along the way. I can’t just be unfocused like this. It won’t help anyone. Thank you, Jeongin.” And with that he rolled to his side, back facing the other omega. He’d sleep it off and get back to everything with a clear head in the morning. Jeongin turned off the light. 

“Sleep well, Felix,” the younger omega said softly.

“You, too.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minho didn’t know that Changbin planned on running the hit that night. With no Jisung to plan around, he could technically do things when he felt like it, and he felt restless just sitting on a hit like this where he’d have to kill someone with intent. 

Might as well get it over with. 

He walked the way to Woojin’s house, wondering why Jisung would do such a tedious walk every day, what with so many hills and passing cars. The day had finally descended into night by the time Changbin had arrived at the house. Woojin would be going to bed early, having a shift early in the morning, a shift that he wouldn’t make it to. Changbin cursed the guilt that trickled into his stomach, forcing it away as he slipped on a pair of gloves that Minho had provided, making his way to the fence that would lead to the backyard and jumping it. 

Most of the neighbors’ lights were on, but all of the curtains facing the house were drawn shut, leaving Changbin with little to worry about in terms of getting caught. He considered using the back door, but he didn’t want to risk Woojin somehow having chosen to stay up despite his early shift. The concept of walking in on the officer sitting on his couch was a terrifying one, and Changbin chose to follow the route that Minho had laid out for him initially. 

The patio was raised on a concrete platform, and there was a railing to prevent a nasty fall. He took the steps one by one up to the simply decorated patio, looking through the blinds from that distance to see a small kitchen table with only two chairs not pushed fully in. Hyunjin and Woojin, he assumed. He’d almost forgotten that Hyunjin probably lived here too. Would Hyunjin be home? Minho hadn’t mentioned him, which implied that he wouldn’t be a burden. But who knew. 

If Hyunjin was home, what would Changbin do? Probably gag and restrain him, but wouldn’t that wake up Woojin? 

It was risky. This was all so risky, and Changbin considered for a second that maybe Minho was trying to frame him in the first place, trying to get him caught. 

He shoved the thought from his mind, and climbed up onto the railing. 

From the railing, he could reach the roof rather easily, the sloping of it making it an easy climb. He heaved himself up and brought his knee up to make it fully onto the roof of the first story that connected to the wall of the second story. Minho had shown him a small, predicted layout of the house. It was assumed, according to the tipper, that the window Changbin was looking at was the one to the room that Woojin slept in. 

He was slow. He didn’t want to slip, make noise, or fall off the roof entirely, so he crept forward to the window, sucking in a breath. It was closed. How would he get in without breaking it?

There were no curtains and so he was able to look inside. He peered in, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw Woojin fast asleep in his bed. It had seemed normal up until this point. The usual tactics, the usual plan. But now as he was reaching for his gun, he felt his hand freeze. 

There was no turning back after this, and he realized what Minho meant when he said this was entirely different from a usual hit. He was taking a life. 

He stared through the window wide-eyed, sweating, watching the officer sleeping peacefully. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t do it-

Felix appeared in his mind. Jisung ran, there was no one who would do it besides him. And if it didn’t get done, Minho would come after him, them, all three of them, including Felix. 

The fear was enough. He drew his gun, aimed. His lip quivered, he attributed it to the cold and not to the raw, searing fear of what he was about to do. He’d have to run after this, run like hell. If he couldn’t shoot the gun inside the house with all doors closed, the sound of the shot would echo throughout the neighborhood. He inspected the window one more time to ensure that there was no way to open it from the outside without loudly breaking it, no way to do this quietly. 

He aimed at Woojin and hoped like hell that this gun Minho provided could shoot through a window and still hit it’s target. 

He sucked in his breath, held it, heart pounding, hands trembling. 

He fired, glass shattered, the shot echoed, and before he could even see whether the bullet had made it or not he was skidding off the roof, tumbling to the ground, and running like hell. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

The sun rose, and Hyunjin’s phone ringing echoed loudly through the room. Seungmin groaned, waking up before Hyunjin even did, despite the phone being right next to the older alpha. 

“Turn it off,” Seungmin slurred. They’d been up late at the game, and it was very early, probably around six in the morning if Hyunjin was to guess. He rolled towards his phone and picked it up, blinded for a second by the light but swiping to answer the call. 

“Hello?” he groaned. 

“Hyunjin, it’s Chan.” 

“Chan, it’s really early, can I call you back?” Hyunjin asked, standing up regardless and stretching his legs, grabbing his crutches and making his way to the bathroom to stare at his exhausted reflection. He figured that he’d wash his face and eat breakfast now that he was already up, that he would call Chan back later once he could comprehend words a little better.

“Hyunjin.” It was then that Hyunjin realized that something was wrong. Chan’s voice sounded weak, shaky. He’d never heard this tone from Chan before. 

“Chan…?” he asked slowly. His hand slipped down from the sink to his side. “What’s going on?” 

“I’m outside your dorms. I need to tell you this in person. Please don’t bring anyone, just… just come out soon, okay? I’m in the patrol car, you’ll see me.” 

Chan sounded wrecked. His voice was raw and exhausted, more so than Hyunjin had ever heard before. Hyunjin felt himself trembling a little with worry. Had something happened at work? Was Chan okay? Was Woojin okay? 

Woojin. Something… What if something had happened to Woojin? 

Hyunjin slipped on his shoes, and without taking any time to fix his appearance or put on pants that weren’t pajama pants, he hurried out of the dorm, Seungmin having passed out again too quickly to notice him leaving. 

He ran as much as he could with his crutches. Something was wrong and he could feel it. Chan had hung up shortly after asking Hyunjin to come out, and Hyunjin took the stairs to go faster despite how risky it was with his injured foot, made it safely to the bottom floor, hurried out and immediately saw the patrol car waiting by the curb. He got into the passenger seat and held his crutches uncomfortably to his chest, turned to Chan. 

Chan’s eyes were bloodshot, wet. He had been crying recently, and Hyunjin felt his heart tighten. Never once in his years growing up had he ever seen Chan cry. “Chan…?” he asked weakly, feeling his frozen heart reignite with fear and anxiety, pulsing rapidly in his chest. 

“Hyunjin, something… something happened,” Chan started, clearly trying to keep his voice steady. “Last night, something happened at your house.”

“A break in?” Hyunjin asked weakly, scared of the response. Chan slowly shook his head.

“Hyunjin. Woojin was shot last night through the window. No one knew until I came to pick him up for work this morning and... he… he isn’t with us anymore.” 

Time froze. Hyunjin felt his heart freeze fully in his chest, felt his stomach knot. His ears rang with the sound of the car engine running and Chan sniffing, trying to contain himself. 

Woojin was… Woojin wasn’t… He couldn’t be, it didn’t work like that, it couldn’t be so sudden, it wasn’t…

A tear streaked down his cheek, hot and cold at the same time, his breath had been knocked out of him and hadn’t returned until he was gasping on a sob. Chan brought him into a hug and he didn’t move, frozen in a state of shock and terror, because this couldn’t be happening. Chan’s tears soaked into his shirt, and Hyunjin sobbed in choked, ugly, breaths because he could barely breathe at all. 

His brother, his only brother, his family, the only family that mattered to him. 

Gone overnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to emphasize that this is a story and these are characters. They are loosely based off of SKZ and Woojin, yes, but they are not the same at all, not even having the same personalities really. I kept Woojin in the story for plot convenience, and I'm taking him out of the story for the same reason, plot convenience. The hit wasn't going to happen for a few more chapters, but I didn't want you guys who don't support Woojin to have to read about him over and over in a lighthearted way when this is a very serious situation going on. 
> 
> I want to emphasize as well, I was going to kill Woojin's character off anyway. I'm not doing this ONLY because of what's going on. The speed that it happened in the story is influenced by what's going on, but it was going to happen anyway. Please don't come after me about it. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please take care, stays. This is a really rough time. I'm here for you if you need to vent, just do so in the comments or message me on instagram (the account im willing to give out is 'taau.yu', since I dont have a fan account and only have personals *i wont accept follow requests but will absolutely answer messages*) (please, again, no fighting in the comments). 
> 
> This story is going to get melancholy for a while. I completely understand if you need a break from reading it. Please take care.


	5. Grief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The following day was a blur. Hyunjin found himself riding the current of the rush around him, dazed and lost within himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Welcome back to my story <3 I want to get into this quickly, but I need to address something first. 
> 
> So the main consensus was either to keep Woojin's name and just recognize him as a character in this story rather than a real person, or to change his character to an Ateez member. I really don't mind either way, so its up to you guys! Please comment whether you'd prefer to keep his name or change it, and who in Ateez you feel would fit the role best. If we change it to an ateez member, I will go back through Tamed and the previous chapter of this story and change it as well. I'm neutral in this decision :) 
> 
> This chapter does contain mention of Woojin, which may be upsetting, so please be warned. While he isn't a character in this story anymore, it would be unrealistic of me to not write about the other characters mourning his death in this story. Please keep in mind that this is just a story and he is just a character in this <3 If the majority of yall want me to change him to an Ateez or even to an OC, I definitely will. 
> 
> With that being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter <3

It was cold. With no heater to warm the house, Changbin shivered under an old blanket he’d bought from a thrift shop with the cash Minho had given him. He could’ve afforded better, but he wanted to ration the money as much as possible. He didn’t know if he’d get paid again anytime soon. 

His chest was tight, his stomach was tight. Minho had congratulated him on doing what he’d done, but the words had floated right past him with no meaning. The guilt ached in his chest as he wondered a lot of things upon reaching his house yesterday after the hit. 

He wondered if Woojin was a good person. He had always been a threat to Changbin and Jisung’s lifestyle, and he was in the same department as the people who took Felix away, but he was an officer for a reason. He’d have no way of knowing what kind of person he was without bias. 

What about his family, he wondered, and slowly it came back to his mind, returning brighter than ever before, that Hyunjin was his family. 

Hyunjin who talked about his brother all the damn time when they had him locked up. 

He didn’t care, he repeated to himself, he didn’t care about Hyunjin. But his mind kept wandering back, wondering what he was doing right now, if he was okay. Surely he wasn’t alright. Changbin’s mind drifted until he was comparing it to how he’d feel if he lost Jisung so suddenly and unexpectedly, and he almost broke down just thinking about it, almost called Jisung right then to see if he was okay before his pride formed a wall around the idea. 

Minho had offered him another hit, another job, one much more high paying, one that would fund his life if he was just willing to kill another person. But Changbin was resolved. 

He’d never do it again. This guilt was far too much to bear. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

The following day was a blur. Hyunjin found himself riding the current of the rush around him, dazed and lost within himself. Chan called Hyunjin’s parents and explained the situation while Hyunjin stared down at the unsipped mug of cocoa in his hands, sitting in Woojin’s office chair at the station. His parents said they were flying back immediately, and Hyunjin didn’t know how to feel about it, deciding not to feel at all.

He’d cried more times than he could count over the course of the day. He’d missed all of his classes, and Seungmin had texted him over and over asking where he was, if he was okay, but he didn’t have the energy to respond. Chan noticed his phone going off and texted his friends, telling them what was going on. Hyunjin turned off his phone once he noticed his mom trying to call him, curling up in the office chair, trying not to think. 

It was so painful. He never would’ve imagined this happening. 

Chan refused to take him home, no matter how much he’d begged and even, for a second, yelled. It was still apparently a crime scene, but the tone of Chan’s voice when he explained it made it very clear that the police had no idea who would have shot his brother. 

The sun set somewhere between the times that he managed to fall asleep. Chan was done with his report at the office, very obviously emotionally exhausted, and Hyunjin followed him out to his car, was driven to Chan’s house and given a blanket that smelled like Woojin’s cologne. He cried again, unable to sleep anymore than he had. Chan stayed up with him, and they sat staring at a television that neither of them had the focus to actually watch. 

He fell asleep somehow. The next morning, Chan tried to wake him up for school, but gave up quickly when Hyunjin muttered that he wasn’t going. Chan made him breakfast, but he felt nauseous at the thought of eating, and Chan ended up putting it in the fridge. His parents’ flight would be arriving in the middle of the day, and Hyunjin wished he could avoid them. He didn’t want to see anyone, he didn’t want to talk anymore. All he could do was cry until he fell asleep, wake up numb, then think about his brother not existing anymore until he was crying again. 

His phone was still off by the time Chan told him they needed to pick his parents up from the airport. He turned it on and didn’t anticipate the many missed calls, missed texts, from his friends and classmates who wondered why a straight A student like Hyunjin had missed so many classes. Three of his professors sent emails asking if he was okay, if he needed the assignments handed to him next class.

He didn’t reply to any of it. 

Hyunjin slept on the way to the airport and faked being asleep when his parents got into the car. His mom was sniffling, her voice weak and trembling as she thanked Chan for the ride and for caring for Hyunjin. His dad was silent. 

It wasn’t until they were back at Chan’s house that Chan shook him and told him that they needed to get out of the car. He opened his eyes and saw his parents for the first time in over a year. 

It was the first time he’d seen them since before he’d been kidnapped, and now… 

When they got out of the car, his mother hugged him so tightly that he dropped one of his crutches and nearly fell. His father was silent, watching the encounter, but something was deep in his eyes that had never been there before, the coldness replaced with a tired, miserable expression. 

“Hyunjin, I’m so glad you’re okay,” his mother whispered, having broken down into sobs. She rubbed her eyes to wipe away the tears, but they kept falling. Hyunjin didn’t notice that he’d started crying as well, not until his mother was hugging him again, not until she was whispering that she wouldn’t leave him again, that everything would be okay. 

The funeral happened the next day. Hyunjin hadn’t worn a suit in years. He hadn’t wanted to go. It was a closed-casket funeral, he wouldn’t be able to see Woojin there. But Chan had encouraged him off of the couch that he was sleeping on, away from the warmth of the blanket and out into the cold of the world. 

Seungmin came to the funeral as well, his eyes sad when he looked at Hyunjin, bringing his best friend into a tight hug and staying by his side the entire time. Hyunjin’s mother sobbed as his father stood on the podium beside the closed casket, going into Woojin’s childhood, how he always wanted to protect his mother, Hyunjin, and the omegas of the city, how he had achieved his goal. Hyunjin was supposed to speak, but he couldn’t, and ended up running to hide in the bathroom before his turn came. He sobbed there, and Seungmin came after him, encouraging him to open the handicap stall to let him in. They sat on the floor beside each other and talked until Chan came in and knocked on the stall door. 

“Your dad was wondering where you went,” Chan said softly to Hyunjin. 

Seungmin narrowed his eyes. “His dad can go fuck himself. If he can’t talk then he shouldn’t have to.” 

The next day passed, and Hyunjin didn’t go to school. He didn’t get up from the couch, not when his mom was helping Chan prepare breakfast, not when lunch or dinner passed. He didn’t eat, and even sitting up made him feel nauseous and lightheaded. His mother begged him to at least eat some bread for dinner. He tried, he really did, but ended up throwing it up in the bathroom later, stress and anxiety not allowing the food to stay down. 

His father didn’t speak to him, and he was grateful for it. Maybe it was a mutual decision that they wouldn’t speak to each other until things settled down. The last thing Woojin said to his father was yelling at him about how he was treating Hyunjin. Now, neither of them knew how to act around each other. 

A cold front came through, about a week after Woojin’s death. Hyunjin shivered under his blankets and wondered if something could’ve been done, been changed, for this horrible scenario to be different. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Seungmin walked into the club room, weary-eyed and hair uncombed.

Felix and Jeongin had met up there to study, but they found that they weren’t able to focus on anything when it was a week gone by without seeing Hyunjin. Jeongin jumped out of his seat, hurrying to hug Seungmin when he entered the room, and Felix watched them, a small sting in his chest at the sight before he shoved it down. 

He hadn’t found Changbin and Changbin hadn’t contacted him, but to be fair he wasn’t necessarily looking right now, too burdened by what had happened to Hyunjin’s brother. He never knew Woojin, had never met the man, but Hyunjin always talked so fondly about him when he was in captivity. He said his brother would be looking for him, he’d say often that his brother surely missed him. He talked about his brother back then five times more than he’d talk about his parents, and now… 

“He’s not doing well,” Seungmin said softly, stroking Jeongin’s hair slowly before pulling away to pull out a chair and sit in it. He sighed, low and tired. “Which is fair, to be honest. Who would’ve thought…”

“Did Chan tell either of you how… Jeez this sounds insensitive,” Jeongin mumbled, but Seungmin encouraged him and he finished, “Did he say how Woojin died?” 

Felix shook his head. “He didn’t tell me.” But Seungmin stared down at the table dully. A silence filled the room before the alpha’s quiet voice broke it. 

“He was shot in his sleep. Shot through the window. It was an assassination.” 

Both Felix and Jeongin slowly went wide-eyed. Honestly, Felix had expected something like a work incident, but this… This could be considered to be much worse. If he hadn’t been expecting the attack, he definitely wasn’t able to defend himself, especially if it had happened in his sleep. 

“Who would’ve done something like this...?” Jeongin asked weakly. “I feel terrible for Hyunjin…” 

Felix fell quiet. He had no ideas, no clues. After all, he didn’t know the man. All of them fell into a thoughtful silence, before Seungmin mumbled, “I don’t know if Hyunjin’s gonna be okay through this. He won’t get out of bed, he won’t eat. Chan asked me to come over to try and get him up, but he couldn’t talk to me, he couldn’t talk at all.” 

Jeongin’s shoulders shrank, he furrowed his brow sympathetically. “It can be a trauma response. We’re learning about those later this year.” 

Felix said quietly, “I collected his homework from our shared classes, and I went to his art class this morning to ask the teacher what he could do to catch up. If he needs to stay in bed, maybe he could focus on homework rather than his thoughts?” 

Seungmin nodded, “I can try to give it to him. I’m going over tonight to try and get him to eat dinner.” 

“I hope he feels better. This is so hard…” Jeongin sighed, pushing the pencil in front of him until it rolled a little farther from him. 

Felix nodded. He knew Hyunjin to some extent, he at least knew the stressed and fearful Hyunjin that he’d met months ago. He had wanted to believe that Hyunjin being freed would mean he’d never have to suffer again. It was irrational, now that he was looking back on it, to expect something like that. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------

“Here,” he said dully, shoving a packet of bills across the table, neatly wrapped and folded. The young man across from him slowly reached across the table, taking the dollars and flipping through them, counting. It took a few minutes, he double, then triple counted. An amature, for certain.

“This… This is more than I expected,” the alpha across from him whispered. 

Minho smiled. “Do you want less?” 

The man hurriedly shook his head. “I just… All I did was follow that guy. Usually you underpay me, no disrespect intended.” 

There was some disrespect there, definitely, but Minho let it slide, cocking an eyebrow and letting the man continue. 

“Do you have more expectations?” the informant finally asked.

“Well, tell me what you found, and I’ll decide whether I expect you to go back out there or otherwise am satisfied with your information,” Minho said dully. 

The alpha breathed in, then out slowly. “It was SpearB, who I haven’t seen running hits in a long time. I found him walking into Kim Woojin’s neighborhood. He climbed up onto the roof of the house, and shot through the window. I confirmed, the shot did kill the target, though it was messy and honestly very close to missing entirely. The target died a slow death, though SpearB wouldn’t have known that, given that he fled after shooting.”

“And you’re confirming that there was only SpearB there? No one else?” 

“Yes, I’m certain,” the scout assured. 

Minho’s soft smile slowly faded. “Interesting,” he murmured. 

“Did you expect someone else?” the man asked. 

“Keep telling me what happened. When you followed SpearB home, did you see anyone else in the house? I was told that someone would be inside with some sort of illness. Did you see anyone through the windows?”

“I did look, after an hour or so. There wasn’t anyone. SpearB was sleeping on the floor of the living room by himself. Even the upstairs seemed completely empty, though I couldn’t be sure without entering the house. The windows were boarded up, I could only see through the small cracks…” 

Minho felt his irritation rising. So Changbin had lied to him then. Jisung wasn’t sick, Jisung had bailed. He wasn’t as pissed at Changbin for defending his own than at Jisung for fleeing. What a waste, that he’d go through all of this trouble to get two people out of jail under the radar just for one of them to refuse to follow his instructions. 

“I’m pleased with your information. Keep the money,” he grumbled after some thought. The informant sighed softly, relief filling his expression. “Next…” Minho said, trailing off as he pulled out his briefcase and set it on the steel table. “I’m sure you wouldn’t mind another job?” 

“I definitely wouldn’t mind. Money is tight right now, to be honest,” the alpha said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Minho nodded. 

“It won’t be difficult, so I’m not paying you quite as much. I was expecting you to finish the job if SpearB had failed, but he didn’t, so that didn’t matter. Regardless, that’s why your previous pay was so high. This time, I just want you to find someone for me. Don’t let him know that you’re looking for him, or that you’re working for me when you do find him.” 

The informant nodded, his eyes slowly widening when Minho popped open his briefcase, did some digging, and quickly pushed a photo across the table. 

“Isn’t this…?”

“J-one. He used to work with SpearB. Find him and then tell me where he is without him knowing that he’s being searched for. He should still be in town, given his likely feeble resources, but there’s a chance he may be in the next town over.” 

The scout nodded, taking the picture and folding it up, pocketing it. 

Minho smiled professionally. “I’ll pay you once you can provide me enough information on him. Don’t get caught.”


End file.
